Behind the Desk: Dr. Thomson, Superintendent of Norwood Public Schools
By Marisa Silk, Staff Writer
UPDATE: Since the publication of this article, Dr. Thomson has done a self-imposed quarantine due to concerns about his recent interaction with someone who tested positive for the Coronavirus. He has done this out of an abundance of caution after a town resident tested positive at a party that he and other town officials attended, including the Town Manager, Tony Mazzucco. Mazzucco has begun to develop cold-like symptoms and has self-quarantined himself. Dr. Thomson sees no reason to cancel school just yet based on the current status of Norwood based on his mass phone call out to parents and school officials.
The Superintendent of Norwood Public Schools, Dr. Thomson, affects the lives of students through his work behind the scenes, but some may not know who the real Dr. Thomson- the person behind all the meetings and decisions.
There are some things that students may not know about the Superintendent’s role, such as his passion for modern education. Dr. Thomson is also a man who is just like everyone else. “It has taken me 3 and a half weeks to be able to schedule and get my car into the garage to get it fixed” he joked.
One noticeable part to Dr. Thomson is his love of teaching and conversation as shown through his use of analogies to explain his work and life, but especially to form a connection with whoever he is speaking to.
Dr. Thomson is very similar to high school students where he didn’t know what he wanted to be when he grew up, being a superintendent was not at the top of his list. Dr. Thomson “wanted to be a veterinarian. I quickly discovered that at that point in time that wasn’t the best choice for me because I was too social and being a veterinarian is more difficult than getting into medical school, so I started looking at what else I could do in some other medical fields.”
Dr. Thomson soon realized his love for teaching through his roles as a camp counselor swim teacher. He received his bachelor’s degree at Framingham State University with a degree in biology and secondary education. Dr. Thomson says, “I trained to be a high school biology teacher and taught in a private middle school for many years. I spent twelve years in the classroom by that time I got my masters from Framingham State in educational leadership and administration. And I have been in administration ever since.”
Dr. Thomson has spent 19 years in educational administration and 12 years in the classroom for a total of 31 years of being a part of educational institutions affecting students’ lives. He was an assistant superintendent for three years before joining Norwood and a principal for eleven years before that. His doctorate is from Northeastern University.
He has been the Norwood Public Schools’ Superintendent for three years now. Dr. Thomson explains that “a lot of what the Superintendent does is confidential, such as student issues or personal pieces that make up 45% of the job that is really not something you can talk about.”
His job entails going to a lot of meetings, supervising things, and signing a lot of things. Thomson has been involved in many aspects of the community, such as through his Coffees with the Superintendent, Town Government Day, and through his contribution to the 1:1 Chromebook Initiative which allows every student to receive a Chromebook through grades 6-12.
A major aspect of Dr. Thomson’s job that is well-known among students is his role in calling snow-days. Thomson says the main concern “is getting kids safely to and from school and no two storms are the same.” The Superintendent of every district gets national service updates that are more reliable and consistent than the nightly news weather updates. Superintendents across towns also speak with one another to see what they are planning to do.
Dr. Thomson knows “you are not going to make everyone happy but it is not based on flipping a coin it’s actually based on accurate weather reports.” He recalls a storm two years ago where it rained then froze over and Dedham, Canton, and Westwood had all canceled school due to the schools having power outages. Norwood’s public works department is the reason that snow-days get called rarely.
It becomes a “conversation between me, Mark Ryan (lead engineer and head of the department ), Paul Ricardi (buildings and grounds director), about the storm with two guys that absolutely know the town and what it’s going to take.”
He does in fact get calls and tweets from concerned parents about his inevitable choice. Dr. Thomson says, “when they say what’s wrong with you I quickly call my wife and say can you give me the list of what’s wrong with me again? There is a lot more that goes into it.”
Dr. Thomson also went in-depth about the difficult conversation about the budget which is happening now. He explains that “the budget is still being worked out but our challenge this year has been having a lot of students move into the district and a lot of those students need special education services.”
“This has thrown us a curveball with this budget process so we are trying to keep on our path with the improvements we are trying to do based on the override. I have to keep reminding people that 75-85% of the override was just not cutting stuff and keeping people. $4.2 million was for keeping programs and people and $1.5 million was for PD (Professional Development) and new textbooks and things along that line.”
The struggle with the budget right now is trying to keep the programs and staff, but also accommodate the new influx of students who need to receive special services, such as taking a Norwood bus to a school that is out of the district.
Dr. Thomson says, “the challenge is how do you continue with our cost with other drivers that have come into the budget. We are looking at an increase of over a million dollars”, with this addition of special services for students excluding other factors that will continue to alter the budget.
One of the major projects that Dr. Thomson is in the midst of right now is the development of the new Coakley Middle School building. He recently just had a meeting at the Massachusetts School Building Authority and voted by the board to move into phase two, of a six-step process of building the new school.
Dr. Thomson explains that “we just finished the eligibility phase which one of the key things was having a town meeting passing an article about borrowing money to pay for the feasibility study and now that we have shown that the town is behind us, we have the votes we need and the building committee approval. We’re strolling down the road now.”
The next steps are getting a project manager hired, and a design firm to help do the feasibility piece, which will be the next year to year and a half. “We are still looking at opening the school in 2025. It’s still a long way away.”
Dr. Thomson and the school committee have “strategic, ambitious plans” for the Norwood public school system to help enrich children’s learning and help them be prepared once they exit their time in Norwood public schools.
He wants “to make sure that all of our kids are moving on a path to being ready for the future, be that college, be that career, whatever it might be. It also means giving the teachers the tools to make sure our kids are moving in that direction and making sure we have the programs to do that.”
It’s about “what’s best for the kids, the students...what’s going to help them get the best possible future they can have and that’s everything from academic, social, emotional, and discovering habits and hobbies they love.”
Thomson stresses that this plan will help ensure a more enhanced, productive learning environment with the tools and resources needed for students across all ages to reduce the achievement gap and allow every student to have equal access to the best education.
Dr. Thomson does note that there are pressures to his job, pressures that come with any job that consists of adhering to all different perspectives from the community, teachers, and families. It is also a position that cannot make everyone happy. He takes into account every perspective and opinion, and “people have come to the realization that I’m going to give the honest answer not one that is going to make you happy. You need enough backbone to do that.”
Dr. Thomson is not perfect and is ordinary like the rest of us. Sometimes “It’s not a hundred percent, not everybody bats 1000, not even Ted Williams did, but hopefully I’m doing better than 444.”
In the next year, the budget will be updated and decided, the Coakley Middle School rebuilding will be underway with designing and discussion, and more programs will be instilled to evolve the Norwood public school system even further. Thomson emphasizes that this is a “great community to work in and a fantastic team to work with, and there’s a lot of good work that has been done and a lot of good work to continue doing to get us where we need to be.”